IOC withholds Jones` 100-meter gold from Thanou

Lausanne, Switzerland: Olympic leaders reallocated two individual medals stripped from Marion Jones because of doping on Wednesday, but withheld the 100-meter gold from disgraced Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou.

Nine years after the Sydney Games, the International Olympic Committee redistributed some of the medals taken away from Jones. The executive board awarded her gold in the 200 meters and bronze in the long jump to the next place finishers, but denied Thanou the 100 gold because she was at the center of her own drug scandal at the 2004 Athens Games. Thanou never tested positive and was not linked to doping in Sydney, but was accused along with fellow Greek sprinter Kostas Kenteris of evading tests in Athens and faking a motorcycle crash as a cover-up.The decision means the gold medal in sprinting`s marquee event will remain vacant. Thanou`s lawyers have indicated they could sue or appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if she isn`t awarded the gold. Thanou and Kenteris missed drug tests on the eve of the Athens opening ceremony, claiming they were injured in a motorcycle accident and spent several days in a hospital. They pulled out and were later banned for two years by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Thanou and Kenteris — the men`s 200-meter winner in Sydney — are still awaiting trial in Greece on misdemeanor charges of staging the crash. The IOC barred Thanou from last year`s Beijing Games, saying she caused a "scandalous saga" in Athens that brought the Olympics into disrepute. Tanya Lawrence of Jamaica, who finished third in the 100 in Sydney, will move up to second and become the duplicate silver medalist with Thanou. Merlene Ottey, who competed for Jamaica but is now a Slovenian citizen, goes from fourth to third and will get her sixth career bronze medal to go with two silvers in seven Olympics. Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas is promoted from silver to gold in the 200, with Sri Lanka`s Susanthika Jayasinghe moving up from bronze to silver and Jamaica`s Beverly McDonald from fourth to third. Russia`s Tatyana Kotova is upgraded from fourth to bronze in the long jump. Jones had long denied doping, but admitted in 2007 that she used steroids at the time of the Sydney Games, where she became the first woman to win five medals at a single Olympics. She served a six-month prison sentence last year for lying about doping and her role in a check-fraud scam. The IOC stripped Jones of her five medals, which also included gold in the 4x400 relay and bronze in the 4x100 relay, in December 2007. Still undecided is the fate of the medals held by Jones` relay teammates. The IOC stripped those medals in April 2008 but the relay runners appealed to CAS, arguing it was wrong to punish them for Jones` violations. CAS is due to release its verdict by Dec. 18, and the IOC will wait until then before making a decision. Bureau Report